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Notes on shell morphology and classification of the Siliquariidae (Gastropoda) : the protoconch and slit of Siliquaria squamata Blainville

by: Gould, Stephen Jay

Publication date: 1966

Topics: Siliquaria squamata, Siliquariidae, Gastropoda, Mollusks, Gastropoda -- Bermuda Islands -- Saint David's Island, Mollusks -- Bermuda Islands -- Saint David's Island

Publisher: New York, N.Y. : American Museum of Natural History

Collection: americanmuseumnaturalhistory; biodiversity

Contributor: American Museum of Natural History Library

Language: English

Rights: http://biodiversitylibrary.org/permissions

Rights-holder: American Museum of Natural History Library

Volume: no. 2263

Item Size: 12.5M

13 p. : 24 cm

"Siliquaria, described for the first time, is 0.25 mm. wide, helically coiled, and has a sinuous aperture, whereas that of the other two siliquariid genera is 1 mm. wide and planispiral, with a circular aperture. Protoconch form can no longer be used as the chief diagnostic familial characteristic as proposed by Morton (1951). The siliquariid slit is analogous in form, but not in function, to the selenizone of slit-bearing archaeogastropods. Since the siliquariid slit is much longer than that of archaeogastropods, the morphology of slit healing differs. To prevent lateral filling of the slit by growth increments running longitudinally along the slit toward the slit-healing lamina, such increments are either not deposited or else run underneath, rather than in the same surface, as in their predecessors"--P. 11-12

Title from caption

"August 18, 1966."

"More than 100 individuals of the curious slit worm-snail Siliquaria squamata Blainville were found embedded in a single sponge dredged from a depth of 300-400 fathoms in waters southeast of St. David's Light, Bermuda, on July 12, 1964."

Includes bibliographical references (p. 12-13)

Abstract: 'Siliquaria, described for the first time, is 0.25 mm. wide, helically coiled, and has a sinuous aperture, whereas that of the other two siliquariid genera is 1 mm. wide and planispiral, with a circular aperture. Protoconch form can no longer be used as the chief diagnostic familial characteristic as proposed by Morton (1951). The siliquariid slit is analogous in form, but not in function, to the selenizone of slit-bearing archaeogastropods. Since the siliquariid slit is much longer than that of archaeogastropods, the morphology of slit healing differs. To prevent lateral filling of the slit by growth increments running longitudinally along the slit toward the slit-healing lamina, such increments are either not deposited or else run underneath, rather than in the same surface, as in their predecessors'--P. 11-12.